Crush on a preacher

Every year, every Ramadhan, I end up having a major crush on atleast one of the religious speakers at the local mosque. It's not like any of them have been exceptionally goodlooking (except for that Robert De Niro lookalike 2 years ago.) (Yummy.) (Robert De Niro is THE hottest older man alive) (as is Sanjay Dutt, who I have seen TWICE, and who is just as smokin hot in real life as he is on screen.) (Okay, enough of the parentheses, I could've had a whole seperate post with just them.) (But then they wouldn't make any sense on their own.) (Okay this is really it.)

So I realised something. Along with being attractive and intelligent and witty and successful, (I realise I'm asking for the earth and the stars here) I also want my man to be religious. (and now the moon.) Not extremist bin-laden religious, (who really isn't religious, just insane with a touch of derange (can you say that? Derange?)) but a more moderate (normal) level of faith.

I like a man that believes in a supreme being. I like that he prays and fasts and does the things he does, because he believes God deserves to be worshipped. I like that a man can go out of his way to research and read up on an ideology he has faith in, that is not a hobby, but a way of life. In the wise words of Paris Hilton (whose song 'Stars are blind' I'm embarrassed to admit I quite like, and who really does have a pretty decent voice), "That's hot."

"Religion is essentially the art and theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation." - Edmund Burke

Divinely Zonked

The holy month of Ramadhan started this past Sunday. It's one of my favourite months of the year - not so much for the fasting and with it, the strengthened spirituality; but (and I'm almost ashamed to say it) the social side of it.

Fasting for me is transcendent. Although you certainly feel it in earthly ways - I mean you starve yourself and walk around with your tongue hanging out from thirst. But it's an experience and I fast the month without fail every year. It takes you to another level completely - spiritually, mentally and physically (what with losing all that weight).

I read somewhere that just as a blind man has other heightened senses because his sense of sight is lacking; when a person fasts, the body weakens but the soul becomes stronger. So you become closer to God and become patient and good and generous and all the rest of all that.

But after the fasting is done and a helluva hearty feast devoured, we head to the mosque for prayers and then after-mosque get-togethers full of more good food, fun and games with friends and family. Every single day for an entire month.

It's like a summer vacation. When you're on a diet. And have to work the next day.

Okay so it's nothing like a summer vacation.

Last night though, after 3 days of continuous fasting and the bloody flu, I dragged myself home from work and crawled up the stairs with only one thought in mind. Not hot, yummy food, or a nice tall glass of an icy drink. Not meeting friends for a late night gobble-fest. All I could think about was throwing myself onto my soft, comfy, welcoming bed for a long undisturbed night of deep sleep.

I think I'm getting old.